Johnson ready to take on Winged Foot
MAMARONECK, N.Y. — Dustin Johnson had never been to Winged Foot until this week for the U.S. Open, or so he thought.
The man is renowned for having a short memory.
Turns out he was at Winged Foot some years ago for a corporate outing, though he can be forgiven for not remembering. It wasn’t on the fabled West course that has dished out equal parts joy and misery since it first hosted the U.S. Open in 1929.
“I think we played the other one because I didn’t remember one hole,” Johnson said Tuesday.
Johnson is the best player in golf going into the second major of the year, and he is not coming in blind. He has glanced at some drone coverage of the course, and he watched highlights from the last U.S. Open at Winged Foot, in 2006.
The rough got his attention, as it should. It is among the deepest at any U.S. Open, and it certainly played a factor in the carnage 14 years ago, when Geoff Ogilvy won despite not making a birdie after the sixth hole, finishing 5 over par.
Ogilvy made pars on his final four holes and then watched as contenders including Jim Furyk, Colin Montgomerie and Phil Mickelson all stumbled home, combining to shoot 5 over on the 18th hole in the final round.
That Open stands out because it was the most recent. Winged Foot, though, has a history of being tough on frontrunners, so it seems the course and the world’s No. 1 player would be a perfect fit.
Johnson took a three-stroke lead into the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, lost it all on the second hole and it only got worse from there on his way to an 82. Five years later at Chambers Bay, he had a 12-foot eagle putt to win but three-putted for par to finish one stroke behind Jordan Spieth.
Johnson’s most recent missed chance at an Open was two years ago at Shinnecock Hills, where he took a four-stroke lead into the weekend, shot 77 on the baked greens on Saturday and finished two strokes behind Brooks Koepka.
The 36-year-old Johnson never seems bothered by the misses, though, because of that short memory. And anything in his mind right now is from the past month or so, and most of that was great: two victories and two runner-up finishes, neither self-inflicted.
Expectations are high from everyone but him.
“I mean, I expect to play well every week,” Johnson said. “But coming here … the game is in good form right now, hopefully it stays in good form for the rest of the week. But it’s one of those golf courses where it’s very difficult and you need to be spot-on if you want to play well.”
Johnson shed the “best to never win a major” label in 2016 at Oakmont, an incredible performance considering he didn’t even know the score over the final two hours because the USGA waited until it was over to assess a penalty shot that Johnson still thinks he didn’t deserve from his ball moving on the green.
Winged Foot gets mentioned alongside Oakmont when the subject is the toughest U.S. Open courses. Johnson smiled at the comparison when it was mentioned to him. His game is built for a course like this. His form is right where he wants it going into a major.
What could possibly go wrong?